Review: Café Cup Resusable Single Cup Pod As Seen On TV

I recently saw the TV ad for the Café Cup and, naturally, I went right out and tracked down this reusable pod because, as you might know if you’ve read my review of the Kirkland Signature Pacific Bold K-Cup from Costco, or the review of Starbucks Café Verona Dark K-Cups and the less costly San Francisco Bay French Roast pods, I adore my Keurig coffee brewer, but am always on the hunt for a more affordable cup of joe.

And, truth be told, I find it hard to resist As Seen On TV products. I always expect the worst, and am so seldom disappointed. If you doubt me, check out my review of the Schticky. And, can we say Eggies? Let’s not. What a mess those were.

Reusable adapters for Keurig and other one-cup brewers aren’t new. I paid nearly $20 for the Keurig My K-Cup reusable coffee filter, and found that I didn’t end up using it at all. You see, the reason that the Keurig brewer is so appealing to me is because the K-Cups speak to my lazy streak when it comes to preparing coffee.

I’d rather spend the day pulling together Thanksgiving dinner for a dozen people than lie in bed in the morning thinking about the endless and messy process of making a pot of coffee. First, there’s finding, then grinding the coffee beans – not too fine, not too coarse. Who can find the perfect grind that early? Then you have to lug the water from the well and pour it precisely into a small opening without getting it onto the counter. Clearly, the well is an exaggeration. But everything is exaggerated when you’re caffeine deprived. Worst of all, though, is the interminable waiting for a whole pot to fill before grabbing that first cup of java. Oh, I know that you can grab a cup midway through the brewing process, but I’ve miscalculated this so many times that I’m gun shy.

Since I have a perfectly good, and expensive, reusable coffee pod (that I don’t use), why would I see a TV ad and want a similar item? Well, because Café Cup made promises and I had to know if it would keep those promises of saving me a few bucks while giving me an easy cup of coffee. And you need to know, too. Yes?

Café Cup Reusable Single Cup Pod, $9.99 for a 4-pack, including a bonus coffee scoop, at CVS. More expensive online.

First look: You get two black pods and two red pods, allowing you to differentiate between decaf and regular or even different flavors. Café Cup also includes a plastic scoop. The pods are made in China and are labeled as 100-percent BPA free. The package touts 10 times the savings vs. disposable pods. You can use them for coffee, tea and hot chocolate. I only tested them with coffee.

At first glance, they resemble the K-Cup reusable filter. The Café Cup uses a hinged lid and is designed to fit in the brewer without needing a plastic capsule like the K-Cup (left) uses.

Using your own coffee, simply fill the cups, snap the lid shut and insert the pod where you place regular K-Cups. That’s it.

Good news: Café Cup fits perfectly into the brewer. And because you get four cups, you can fill them ahead of time and simply use them as needed. And, yes, you’ll save money by using your own coffee. Unless you’re using the new Keurig Vue, you can’t recycle the regular K-Cups, so you’re helping out the landfills by using these types of pods.

Bad news: Unlike the pricey but sturdy K-Cup filter, Café Cup is pretty flimsy. The woven mesh isn’t taut and came slightly crumpled out of the package.

Another issue I see with Café Cup is that the hinge holding the cap to the base is razor thin and there’s no way that plastic is going to last long with regular use.

If you want to make more than four cups of coffee, you’ll have to empty and clean the pods before each use, so they’re not really practical for a group.

Then there’s the coffee itself.

Depending on the type of coffee you use, the flavor is fine, but I ended up with a lot of unappealing sediment at the bottom of the cup.

Last words: Yes, Café Cup kept its promises: easy to use and saves money. But that’s not good enough. I can’t recommend Café Cup because they’re made cheaply and won’t have much staying power. But I’ll keep them around for an emergency should I run out of K-Cups.

(Have you tried these? Or do you have a reusable pod you really like? Better yet, do you know where I can buy Starbucks French Roast K-Cups for a nickel a piece?)

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84 thoughts on “Review: Café Cup Resusable Single Cup Pod As Seen On TV”

Thanks for posting this, Sabine. I got a Keurig for Christmas, and I’m already exploring options. The friends who gave it to me included a huge carton of pods, and I’m going through them in a hurry. Would love to read anything else you have to say about these machines. I notice some fancy two-pod latte possibilities.

Bonnie, I love the machine, but I drink my coffee black, so I’m happy. So far, the bargain cups I like best are Pacific Bold from Kirkland (Costco). And I snag Starbucks French Roast when I find it on sale. But the best deals are when you can get a coupon from Kohl’s and pair that with one of the store’s sales. I’ve gotten some great deals on K-Cups that way.

Thanks for posting! I love my Keurig, but the pods can be expensive … exploring options myself. Since I’m the only one that drinks coffee, I’m lazy about figuring this out in a timely manner :) This is very helpful, thanks!

Used the Cafe Cups a few times. Put all four in dishwater to wash and all four little caps came off and went down drain with water. Didn’t realize they were gone till went to use and didn’t work properly. Now rendered useless.

I got really very excited when I found these at my local Walgreens and thought the price was great! $9.99 would pay itself off in no time… Boy, was I wrong?! I’ve tried to use these several times and have been greatly disappointed. Every cup of “coffee” that I brewed in them came out more like dingy water! Sediment, I can deal with, but this, no way. Am I doing something wrong? I mean, I must be because I’ve seen nobody else with this complaint. I thought maybe I was packing the coffee too tight, so I used less. Please help. I’d really like to enjoy my pods….

Rachel, could it be your coffee? The pods aren’t perfect, but I’m not sure why you’re getting such terrible results. So, I have to wonder if your coffee is maybe too finely ground. Have you checked that? Also, is there any type of leaking or is the water going through the pods as it should? And does this happen with all of the pods? Let me know if it helps to use coarser coffee grounds. And, as always, thanks for reading!

Thanks for the ideas! I have tried different pods, but not different coffee… I have Starbucks dark roast. It should be fine…? I want to say the water is not may not be getting through the pods. I will try something more coarse first and let you know. Thanks again!

The Café Cup reusable cup pods did not work in my Keurig. The lid of my coffee maker could not get closed. I used the Keurig accessory to use my own coffee with these pods and the lid closed but at the end of the brewing, the coffee splattered all over the place. I tried many ways and the more the mess. I’ll buy the original cups on sale. I rather spend the money and enjoy the results than spend twice the time figuring it out, getting aggravated and cleaning a bigger mess. These machines are like expensive cars; If you buy one you must be able to buy the gas.

Sometimes the small circular part on the top of the pod falls off and gets lost and then it isn’t confined to the 3 small streams from the machine and that makes it terrible and puts grounds in the cup.

i bought this at a Family Dollar Store, and try it for the first time.They do work great.The only flog i found is why not have the sides covered without the screend and keep only the top and bottom would be fine. (like the k cups you buy in the stores).The clean up is great also, just run it under warm water. ya there are some darken coloring on the bottom, at least there are no grounds. I would rate this 10. Thank you

I thought the same thing, so I came up with a remedy and now I love my reusable cups! Not to mention it keeps the coffee tasting more bold and the flavor great :) So I took a used pod taken apart and cleaned of course, and I cut about a 1/4 inch from the top all the way around. Then I cut the bottom out of it and it slipped right down in my cafe’ cup and fits snug so I don’t have to remove it I just rinse it like normal and it works great! Love It!!!

We just bought a Keurig and in hope we could use the My-cup. We were sadly mistaken when we brewed our first cut of very weak coffee. Are you getting nice strong coffee with this filter? Stronger than the Mycup?

Connie, I’ve not used My Cup, which is the My K Cup, right? Weak coffee isn’t so much the issue with Cafe Cup but, rather, I don’t like the amount of sediment it leaves at the bottom of the cup. Truthfully, at this point, I’m not fond of any of the filters. But, please let me kow if you finally find one you like. Thank you.

I really like the Cafe Cups. I like them better than the solofill because they have more screen area and let more coffee through. I have not had a lid to break on the Cafe Cups, but I did on the Solofill and I just kept using it. No big deal. I like the price also. I was paying like $13.00 for one Solofill cup. $9.99 for 4 is my kind of bargain! I never liked the idea of throwing all those little cups in the land fill, so I feel good about not having to do that. Yes! I highly recommend the Cafe Cups.

Bought these yesterday at Ross to use with my new Mr. Coffee Single Cup Brewing System. (Uses K Cups). One of the pods was defective, not having the little rubber ring around the lid to keep it closed. The ring was present on the other three. The lip and lid are too thick to allow my machine to close properly without forcing it. The resulting “coffee” was weak brown water with hardly any flavor at all. Emptying them was a nasty mess, as I prefer not to wash all those grounds down my sink! I will be returning them today.

Went to Wal-Mart this morning and found the Melita JavaJig. Package has 2 reusable 3 piece cup assemblies and 30 little filters for under $6. Additional filters come 60 in a box for about $2.50. These more closely replicate the disposable cups in that they have solid side walls with only a tiny hole in the top, and the filter covering the bottom. I used the 10 ounce setting on my machine and made an awesome full flavored cup of coffee! Cleaning is a snap as most of the grounds are in the paper filter and it slips neatly out when the cup is pulled apart.

You ask if I had put the Cafe Cups in the dishwasher, no i have not. I just wash them out under the faucet and put them in the drain pan. They wash up beautifully! On another note, I have never had sediment in the bottom of my cup.

I have tried using the Cafe Cups several times, with several different coffees, each time the so called coffee, tasted like nasty hot water with half and half and sweet in low. Waste of money and time…….now I am stuck with 2 pounds of coffee and I am going back to my Kerigs cups!!!

My wife is a tea drinker and buys her tea k cups at the grocery store. Costs a fortune. I buy my kcups in bulk at a wholesale club. The brand of tea she finds in a kcup is readily available in tea bags. Do you think throwing a tea bag or two in one of these would produce an equal cup of tea? could save a ton of money that way. I’m not picky about my coffee. Cheapest kcup I can find. I just dont want the mess of coffee grinds or the hassle of making it.

Matt, I do that all of the time with tea bags. Just be careful to place the bag away from the sharp pin that pricks the K-Cups, so that you don’t end up with a hole in the tea bag. The water, of course, isn’t boiling as if you heated it in a kettle, but I just plop the bag into my cup, and I’ve been very happy doing that on occasion. Thanks for reading! Oh, and stay tuned because I’m working on a new review of a K-Cup coffee.

I had a totally different HORRIBLE experience with these….I put coffee in one closed the cap and put it in the k cup chamber…. pressed the cup size I wanted and started to walk away as I always do(I use my keruig brand reusable coffee filter like 5 times a day and it got a little tear in it so I heard about these 4 magical cheap but great 4 for less money than 1 keruig one)well I turned around(good thing too)and HOT coffee was squirting out from what seemed like a million different streams from the bottom where the coffee always comes out(but never like this)I didn’t know what to do hot liquid was spraying my counter all my other appliances…..so finally I got the idea to hold my coffee mug up around the whole base of where the coffee was spraying from and contained the little bit of hot coffee that wasn’t already all over my kitchen….I ended up throwing all 4 in a bag and now there in my spare room(a room full of crap I bought that I was promised the world and got coffee all over my kitchen… lol….and I went online and ordered a new KERUIG brand reusable coffee filter and will use my kinda broken one and deal with a couple of flecks of coffee grounds in my coffee till my new one comes in….BOTTOM LINE….. skip this can’t pass it up deal….they suck……

Wowza! You had quite an experience with these. I’m not sure who called them “magical,” but I wouldn’t exactly call them that. Thanks for sharing, and I hope you get your money back. Oh, and I sort of wish you had captured the eruption on video. I think you could have gone viral. :)

I have used the Cafe cups ever since they came out, and have never, I repeat Never,had a problem of any kind. Perhaps people are trying to pack to much coffee in the cafe cup trying to make it stronger. For stronger coffee, use a find grind. Also like anything electrical, you could have gotten a “Lemon”.

I had this happen to me at work. It turns out that a piece from the top of the Cafe Cup (a small disc that can pop out from the center of the lid) went missing and was allowing the water to spray all over! That little piece is apparently integral to making sure the water is directed down through the basket. I am now in search of either a new Cafe Cup (didn’t have any other issues) or a different brand.

Just bought this set of Cafe Cups and found your review. I haven’t used them yet, but your main issue was sediment; my package came with about fifty K-cup sized coffee filters that fit neatly into the Cafe Cup basket. Your pictures show you put the coffee directly into the Cafe Cup (without the filter and with twice the mess). I’m about to go try this out and hope I’m not like your other commenters with the weak coffee problems.

I recently bought a mr coffee and too am blowing through the pods like crazy! I saw the reusable filters in the drug store and was so excited that I could use my own coffee. Much to my dissappointment the coffee came out more like tea. After repeated tries changing the amount of coffee I always had the same result-the grinds in the middle of the pod were dry. These reusable filters have too much screen to build up the pressure to brew a stronger cup of coffee. Why haven’t any manufacturers figured this out yet? Oh yeah, I also tried the one with less screen only ay the bottom, same result.

Prior to purchasing my keurig yesterday I used the Melita cone system to drip one cup of coffee. I was disappointed with weak coffee upon first use of my keurig with the as seen on TV kcup. I went to the store and bought some dark roast Starbucks. And the results were still flat…but…. I am happy to share our ah ha moment. A few years ago Rachel Ray had a coffee segment and talked about “blooming” your coffee when using the cone method. To boom my coffee I readied the cone with ground coffee , added a little water and let sit for a minute or two. This blooming method absolutely worked yielding a full bodied cup of coffee. I added the scoop of coffee to my cafe cup and let my instant hot water run thru it for a moment. I let the cafe sit for a minute or so before brewing and it worked great! Now how to find the best was to fluff my milk as I have replaced my old cappuccino system with keurig.

Just used the CafeCup in my Keurig coffee maker. Made coffee using my favorite 8 o’clock coffee. Coffee is good. Clean up of CafeCup a bit of a mess but easy to do. Cup cleaned easy, ready to use again. If you want to save money and be easier on environment, go for it.

no one has addressed rather these or the melita java jigs work in the keurig VUE?? wanted to purchase one off QVC until I found out how hard it id to find the special K-VUE-cups. would be great to know if either of these work in the VUE.

Hi – absolutely love my reusable Cafe cups (the ones that are 4 per package, as seen on TV!), BUT I first experienced the “weak-coffee” syndrome, & had to figure out:

1. that I needed to buy expresso rather than Starbucks’ dark coffee brands to make it work
2. that yes, Blooming helps.

what I do now is use 3/4 cup of water and one scoop of Illy expresso (expensive stuff – costs about $15.00 a can) and a large cup that holds 16+ oz; then use another 3/4 cup of water with a second cafe cup and Dallmyr Monaco brand expresso (good Italian & very inexpensive $5-6/can). I leave the cup under the spout until both pods are run through the machine. then add another 1/2 cup of milk or so, & throw it in the microwave to get the whole cup hot enough (I actually use a 20 oz paper cup).

The resulting coffee is very full-bodied– and it replaces the usual Large/Venti-sized cup it takes to make me feel like I’ve had my morning coffee.

There is, as other have said, no sediment. Because I use milk, can’t say how it tastes just black.

RE: other comments made, I have also made other small adjustments.
1. As I take them out of my machine, I rest them on my dish drying rack for a few hours (or the day while at work) before touching them. The more they dry out, the easier it is to knock the contents against the inside-side of the wastebasket (the coffe grings just fall out into the wastebasket), so I’ve never experienced the mess that was discussed.
2. I’ve had these 4 cafe cups for about 4 months, and I use them every day, and all 4 are still going strong.
3. I’ve saved so much money I donated a Mr. Coffee K-cup machine and some more cafe cups to my workplace. We’re saving about $2.50/day each, even counting the cost of the paper cup, the coffee and the milk, over the cost of our treasured Venti Starbucks lattes!

I also love my cafe cups. Never had a minutes trouble, and I have use them over a year. Little tip: If you will turn the used cafe cup upside down and tap it on the counter or sink rim a couple of times most of the coffee will come right out when you tap it on the side of your trash bin.

I bought these and LOVE them. I purchased them Hamricks in North Carolina. I have had no bad experiences with them. I don’t know if the new gold tone mesh is finer than the older silver stainless mesh but I get 0 sediment with the coffee I use which is a regular grind. I have always bought regular grind as I like a french press and percolator also and don’t trust the finer grinds, plus I don’t like my coffee overly strong and the fine grind can make it strong. I am purchasing 4 more so that I have 8 handy. This way when I have company I should always have a clean one sitting to use. I’ve had no issue with them coming apart or breaking either. The taste of my coffee is equal to the same brand in the K-cup. I make all my coffees 12 ounces, one small and a medium. My main reason for using these and the K-cup that came with the machine but I haven’t used it since getting these as these are so much easier, is my favorite morning coffee does not come in Kcups. I still use Kcups pretty regular for other coffees.

Thank you for your review of the reuseable Cafe` Cups. I work in an office & we drink coffee out of our Keurig machine & it was getting too expensive to keep buying the prefilled Keurig cups. My co-worker bought the Cafe` Cups and we have been refilling them with our own coffees. We have used them now for about a year. We are very pleased with them. We are careful not to over-fill them so as not to stress the thin plastic at the hinge, and also wipe any stray coffee grounds from the rim so that doesn’t stress the hinge either. We are careful with them, so I haven’t noticed any damage so far. I haven’t noticed any crinkling of the mesh either. The only thing I did notice is during cleaning… while rinsing, normally I have to use my finger to get ALL the grounds out of it where the mesh meets the plastic. But other than that we have been very pleased & it is a GREAT alternative to the expensive prefilled Keurig cups. & by the way, we buy flavored coffee OR we use hot chocolates or powders or syrups to flavor the coffee afterwards… but I do love the selection of prefilled Keurig flavors available. :-)

Been using my cafe cups for over 6 months with no problems. I don’t even get sediment in the bottom of my cup. I wonder if this could come from the type of coffee. My thoughts are if all 4 break today I would go out and by another 4 for another 6 months because of all the money I have saved. I am cheap and can’t justify the price of the kcups…

I do agree with everything in your review. In my case, the hinges on the black filters wore through first. The red ones are still solid. Also, I have seen the sediment with regular pods as well. I think these work well but will follow up.

I have the Cafe Cup reusable pods and like them very much.i did find that using a fine ground coffee works best . Since I had a good bit of coffee on hand prior to getting my Keurig, I wanted to use the reusable pods. I use my coffee bean grinder to grind the coffee finer, then fill several Cafe Cups, putt them in an airtight container and I am ready to go for several days. There is some residue in the bottom of the cup but I usually rinse out my cup upon finishing my cup of joe. It is quite a bit of savings and worth it and works well for me.

I use the Cafe Cups every day at work for the past 3 months or so. Yes there is a bit of sediment at the bottom, but no big deal. I use them for environmental issues, the landfills are loaded with K-cups. I give them a 10 out of 10, especially for the price

I have the Keurig Vue adapter, love it for using the Kcups but haven’t tried the filter part yet. Does anyone know if the generic filters are the same? For that matter for $2.99 at Ocean State Job Lots for three I guess I should not be so cheap and try them! If all else fails they will work for my son in law when I give him his own Keurig coffee maker for xmas? Also has anyone tried using the mesh filter for making your own cocoa?

I’m not sure about the other questions you had, but I have to think that the cocoa might not work because it’s much finer ground than coffee, and I suspect much of it would go through the mesh. But, I’d still be tempted to give it a try.

How about a k-cup cleaning pod that will clean your cartridge holder in less than 4 minutes so you can enjoy the true flavors and taste of your beverage without previous beverage residue or oils? For convenient home or office use.There is a disposable and a refillable, reusable version of this product.These unique products are available for license to interested parties.
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I bought the cafe cups also when I purchased the Keutrig 2.0 K300. I’m having a heck of a time getting them to work. The machine either says “oops this is not the right brand of pod” tells you to use one of the many brands that are available. Or just asks “dispense hot water?” And give you a choice for 4 or 6 oz. Which then i can make a cup of Joe! I would like it to give me the options like stronger etc. Another observation is it’s just not as hot as others I have had a cup from. Everyone else’s seem to be very hot this you can easily drink right away. Don’t let it did long either or you’ll have a cold cup!

Keith, unfortunately, Keurig 2.0 is designed so that it won’t work with any old K-Cups or self-filling cups. I think this is a big mistake, and many Keurig fans are disappointed, to say the least. The good news in all of this is that you can find plenty of hacks online (Youtube has them so that you can see how it’s done) that will allow you to use any K-Cup or refillable cup. Good luck.

Love my Cafe Cups. Been using them over a year and all 4 going strong. Bought at Bed Bath and Beyond with coupon for $8.00. Ok, I’m not a coffee gourmet but I like something drinkable. Found by experience that the drip grind (one step below espresso since espresso clogs the filter) works perfectly. I fill the filter 1/2 full, tap it lightly on counter to slightly compress then fill about 3/4 full and tap gently again. I get a fairly strong 11 oz. Cup. If the coffee sometimes becomes too compressed and the coffee quantity is short, I just run another smaller cup setting through the same coffee with no loss of flavor– just make sure the cup under it is large enough to prevent run over which=mess! Stir the coffee afterwards when you add sweetener and/or cream. Good cup guaranteed! I use a flavored coffee called Death by Chocolate roasted at my local store ( $7.99 a pound–lucky me!) And it’s to die for. Easy! Peasy! Lemon Squeesy”!

Love these; have been using them exclusively for over 2 years. I have twenty or so and rotate them. I have lost the center inserts from about five of them which leaves them useless. If anyone knows where I could get (or buy) just the center inserts, please let me know. I haven’t had one unit fail, otherwise, and I use 5-10 daily. Thanks, Robert

Robert, I lost one of the center inserts and didn’t realize it before I used it. I couldn’t tell and difference in the performance of the Cafe Cup. But when I found it I glued it back on with Gorilla Glue and it is holding fine, and that has been about 3 months ago. I assume we are talking about the same Cafe Cups. Lots of luck.

I can’t afford to.continue to buy the k cups..my sister.gave me a Cafe Cup withy Keurig
Along with the specialty coffee k cups..I have enjoyed my Cafe cup and if any thing. My coffee seems note bold than when using the k cups

I bought these a while ago without using them. My plan wasn’t to save money, I just had some non k-cup coffee that I wanted to use up. I ended up throwing out the coffee.

My Dad started drinking decaf a little while ago and the store was out of decaf so I ended up buying grounds thinking I could pick up K-cups the next day and give the left overs to a friend. So out came the cafe cups. They worked great, never ended up buying the k-cups.

We don’t use them heavily but they seem to hold up just fine to occasional use.

Anyone having a problem with the Keurig coffeemaker only dispensing half a cup of coffee when using the reusable filters? I use Javajig and for every perfect cup of coffee I get, the next one is only half a cup. I have cleaned the Keurig basket, I have tried everything. I use a fine grind coffee and I don’t pack it too hard. Help!

I love the café cups. I am down to 1 from the original 4 bought last summer. There are comments about the hinges breaking, not a problem with mine. I have lost the rubber rings. When they do start to fall off I sometimes found them but they seem to disappear during cleaning and I don’t realize it till it is too late. I used filters with them, maybe this is hard on the rubber rings. Anyone know of a supplier of the rubber rings?
Thank you!

Honestly I’ve been using a cafe cup [single red one i got from a friend] for about a month now.

i like dark rich coffee which is hard to find with K-cups, green mountain – dark magic i love you, anyway i find that if i pack this sucker not tight but about like a packed cigarette and allow it to require a little press to shut the top that i get a great dark cup of coffee every time, i am not getting the sediment problem that likely comes from grinding your beans as there is usually some sediment in those cracks i noticed when i grind my coffee i see this.

also on a few other points:
my mesh was crumpled at first but it seemed to correct itself after 2 or 3 uses.

also i worry about the hinge but i haven’t had anything even look worn so i think its OK. $10 for 4 you kinda get what you pay for here

i do hate cleaning the sucker though cause my grinds can get stuck behind the 4, pillars, on the sides, but i can get it out with a bit of time or high pressure water.

being the only drinker in my house having 2 cups between 7am and maybe 10am this hassle is easily out weighed by the savings.

there are a few things to consider for a personal user though.

do you drink lots of coffee more than 4 cups a day, this might not be for you.
are you a connoisseur of coffee, also maybe not for you as i feel it does not perform the best with finely grind-ed coffee / sediment issues.

now if you are looking to save from the costly k-cups, definitely
are you used to drinking Folgers or some store bought coffee, definitely
it does work quite impressively with Folgers coffee. [my brand no comparisons]
are you grabbing one cup on your way out, YES its great to load up at night and have ready in the AM.

Well after about 28 months, on of my cafe cups broke a hinge. Just kept using it. The top still clamps on tight. Just have to remember when cleaning you don’t lose the cap on the trash-‘-takes a likin’ and keeps on tickin’!

I love(d) the Melitta Java Jig…it makes,a great cup with no sediment BUT you will notice the past tense.. ..the plastic prong part of these is flimsy and after buying 2 starter kits (2 pods each) at $10 and receiving 2 free from Melitta when I complained——I have switched to the Cafe Cup. I am well pleased —-so far so good. I have tried A LOT of these K-cup replacements so far the Cafe Cup is my favorite!

I have used these exact cups for about a year now. My fiance and I drink 2-3 cups each a day and we have never had a problem with them breaking. My fiance thinks the coffee is a little weaker then when we use our reusable cup with the filters (it does hold more coffee). BUT you need to look at the reusable cups, they are not all the same. These cups are simple, easy to use. There are reusable cups that have a solid bottom with a hole already in it for the needle in the machine, if you don’t line up the arrows, you will poke another hole, letting grounds drip through. We went through a few of those reusable before we settled on the ones that you’re reviewed.

There is something about the control – and ease – in using K-Cups. I use both the
‘packaged’ and ‘refillable’ cups. And therein lies the problem – I’m not experiencing anything
close to what I’m expecting with the refillable cups?

What is under my control:

The coffee bean (and freshness ((which no packaged can match))
The grind (burr of course)
The amount of water: 6 oz or 8 oz

No matter which coffee I use
No matter what the grind #
(2 – 4 – 6 – 8 or 3 – 5 – 7)
No matter the amount of water
(I’ve determined that 6 ounces or 8 ounces makes no difference so I use 8)

I am not able to create a better cup than the prepackaged.

Life’s experiences shows I have a discerning palate. Therefore, I look at the
refillable cup as the source of the difference. I just spent over a hour closely inspecting other refillable cups. There are some differences in design but not major differences.

The one striking difference between refillable & prepackaged is – the prepackaged is a sealed system. A punch-hole in the bottom is the only way for fluid to get out. Which suggests to me that even though NONE of the other systems has a better wetting process than the iCoffee Opus/Mozart, the water in the ‘prepackaged’ must be doing a significantly better job of wetting the coffee because, it is harder for it to get out of the K-cup? And because of that the flavor extraction is significantly better?

After several more hours of ‘grind selection’ and ‘coffee bean selection’ – because I still can not come close to ‘prepackaged’ – I’ve given up & am now using a French Press.

My K-Cup usage was costing over $800 a year (minimum of 4 K-Cups each day). Economics forced me to try something else.